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Public Address
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1655
Hard News: Leaving the bunker
The e-government unit at the State Services Commission has been determined over the past few years to get to grips with the internet and social media and respond appropriately. Given that this usually involves exposing process and/or leaving the bunker, it's not without risks --and is all the more laudable for that.
merc
From: Styxville
Since: Dec 2006
Posts: 1285
This pretty much sums up a number of things Iraq for me,
...and the comments.
Rogan Polkinghorne
From: A-town
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 95
Sheesh, I've never read Whaleoil's blog before, and after checking out his exchange with Cameron today, I don't think I'll be going back!
Classic 'playground' argument tactics; completely ignoring any points raised in opposition to his argument, personal attacks, crude language...Whaleoil seems like a real creep!
Craig Ranapia
From: North Shore, Auckland
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 7160
National's use of the perjorative epithet "bureaucrat" for anyone who's not a nurse, teacher or cop is fatuous and offensive.
Perhaps, but could the Government put up a more credible linguistic Miss Manners than Michael 'Rich Prick' Cullen?
noizyboy
From: wellington
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 156
that mash-up is phenomenal. cheers.
Robyn Gallagher
From: Wellington
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1310
I'm really impressed with the State Services Commission's blog, but what impresses me the most is simply that they're not afraid to blog. The blog entries read like they're written by real people and haven't been filtered through a PR person. It seems hard to think that I'd enjoy reading the SSC blog, but it is actually rather enjoyable to read.
(Though if I were to pick on anything it would be their motto, "Dedicated to delivering world class State Services". "Word class" is really just another way of saying "quite good", but it comes coupled with a bit of national shame, like we're only good if we measure up to other countries. But surely state services, by their very nature, should be fine-tuned to the needs of the state and not a one-size-fits all international template? Mental!)
But, yeah, a great blog, especially from a government department.
David Cormack
From: Aro Valley
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 142
Perhaps, but could the Government put up a more credible linguistic Miss Manners than Michael 'Rich Prick' Cullen?
Hey Craig you know that the ol' "National did this wrong but Labour also did something else wrong" defence, doesn't make Nationals actions right.
I'm one of those faceless bureaucrats and frankly John's mean words made me die a little.
Julie Fairey
From: Orcland
Since: Dec 2007
Posts: 140
I would really like to see some research that actually breaks down the work that the extra "bureaucrats" are doing. For example in the Ministry of Education a lot of the increase can be accounted for by the fact that the Government has brought Special Education back into the core public service, as opposed to having them as external contractors. If you asked most NZers if they thought the work done by those in GSE should be done by people directly employed by the Ministry of Education most would say yes, I believe. I suspect there would be quite a few similar examples in other areas too.
But at heart Key's criticism does rather reflect the difference in approaches - National seems to believe that it is not the role of government to do the long term policy research and development necessary to uncover the causes of bad stuff and come up with solutions. Without those "bureaucrats" and their silly research we can only respond to problems with solutions based on talk-back ideas, which I tend to think is not the best way to be making policy and trying to improve things.
Russell Brown
From: Auckland
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 9063
Moderator
Perhaps, but could the Government put up a more credible linguistic Miss Manners than Michael 'Rich Prick' Cullen?
That's something Cullen said in Parliament one day. This is a conscious attempt to raise public odium through the use of certain words.
Russell Brown
From: Auckland
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 9063
Moderator
If you asked most NZers if they thought the work done by those in GSE should be done by people directly employed by the Ministry of Education most would say yes, I believe. I suspect there would be quite a few similar examples in other areas too.
My new-entrants teacher friend is pretty emphatic about the value of the special-ed advice from "bureaucrats" that has become available to her in the past few years.
It's just a stupid, perjorative word that advances no sensible argument.
uroskin
From: Waiheke Island
Since: Feb 2007
Posts: 91
Howick? V8? Nuff said. Bring on $10/litre petrol!
Gareth Ward
From: Auckland, NZ
Since: Mar 2007
Posts: 1379
It's just a stupid, perjorative word that advances no sensible argument.
And "the John Key of old" (i.e. his first few months as Leader) didn't strike me as being the type to use those pointless perjoratives - he seemed a relatively pragmatic and realistic guy then (I heard at least 2 or 3 Havoc weekly interviews where I thought Key provided much more grounded and pragmatic answers in his than Clark did in hers).
Now days he seems to be rolling out the same old late-90s catch phrases - presumedly driven into him by the "on-message" PR team internally. And that's a real shame.
simon g
From: Auckland
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 536
The Dictionary of Politics:
Bureaucrats - "paper-shufflers" BOO!
Taxpayers - "hard-working" HOORAY!
Bureaucrats who pay taxes ... ?
Gareth Ward
From: Auckland, NZ
Since: Mar 2007
Posts: 1379
I like to think that the tipping point for the Rail to the Airport campaign was when I signed up to their Facebook group...
Che Tibby
From: the back of an envelope
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1523
the Government has brought Special Education back into the core public service, as opposed to having them as external contractors.
i thought it was common knowledge that although the "bureacracy" shrank in the 1990s, all the work was shifted to contractors?
working as a researcher, i can tell you that there are considerable efficiencies in cost and knowledge-retention resulting from having this function in-house.
Julie Fairey
From: Orcland
Since: Dec 2007
Posts: 140
Anjum has a good post on the "bureaucrats" issue.
linger
From: Tokyo
Since: Apr 2007
Posts: 382
...nods somewhat despairingly at Julie's comment, especially:
National seems to believe that it is not the role of government to do the long term policy research and development necessary to uncover the causes of bad stuff and come up with solutions.
Exactly right, and I wish such fundamental points of difference were finding its way into the public discussion (e.g. on talkback radio!... well, I can dream, eh).
I do have to wonder, though, if Key really has such a low opinion of bureaucrats (rather than, say, merely taking a cynical position for public consumption), why would he want to be PM? I mean, what is that position if not uber-bureaucratic?
Tim Michie
From: Auckward
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 237
Um, please correct if I'm wrong, but didn't the last great bureaucrat cull result in a greater reliance on external consultants, typically more expensive, so that the latter became the new opposition insult. Of course some departments' staffing levels need to be looked at - for need to grow as well as decrease - but this is surely a matter of course for any organistation.
Todd Hunter
From: Sydney
Since: Mar 2008
Posts: 1
Emma Hart
From: Christchurch
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 2629
Moderator
My new-entrants teacher friend is pretty emphatic about the value of the special-ed advice from "bureaucrats" that has become available to her in the past few years.
I was talking to my daughter's audiologist yesterday. In June, 'the gummint' is bringing in hearing testing for newborns. Because the heads of newborn babies are often, through no fault of their own, full of fluid, this is going to lead to a lot of false negatives - children being picked up with a hearing problem who don't have one.
But even with the earlier pick-up, the testing is going to increase the workload for the Special Education advisors. Currently in Canterbury, there are two and a half advisors covering more than four hundred deaf and hearing-impaired children.
Either they need to employ more advisors - which Key clearly isn't going to do - or increase the workload of the ones they've got, decreasing the service they provide. And as a recipient of that service, I can confidently say that if it deteriorates any further, they may as well sack 'em, because it simply can't get any worse and still exist.
andrew llewellyn
From: Wellington
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 2061
Bureaucrats who pay taxes ... ?
Boo Hooray
linger
From: Tokyo
Since: Apr 2007
Posts: 382
does bureaucracy need a marketing campaign?
not just pushing paper: pushing envelopes
Shep Cheyenne
Since: Oct 2007
Posts: 927
Merc - Any idea why the yanks were using an AK47 (wooden stock) at the end?
Shep Cheyenne
Since: Oct 2007
Posts: 927
Joseph Stiglitz's said something like the USA pay $500K for their troops who died in action.
Is that a calculated loss of their life or a payment to the family after their death?
linger
From: Tokyo
Since: Apr 2007
Posts: 382
National: "government should do less,
therefore we should be the government"
Would you willingly hire someone who made such a declaration about the job on offer?
Idiot Savant
From: Palmerston North
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 1210
And "the John Key of old" (i.e. his first few months as Leader) didn't strike me as being the type to use those pointless perjoratives - he seemed a relatively pragmatic and realistic guy then (I heard at least 2 or 3 Havoc weekly interviews where I thought Key provided much more grounded and pragmatic answers in his than Clark did in hers).
There's an election coming up, and Key needs some squid-ink to mask the fact that his party has no policy. Bitch about "bureaucrats" and "high taxes" and "waste" and you don't have to talk about how you'd actually improve the health system, or whether you're going to follow through on climate change, or what you're going to do to relieve the appalling poverty among those excluded from the recovery.
And I think Che's point about contractors is well-made. You need that institutional knowledge, and you need it in-house. If you start getting rid of researchers and analysts, then the ministries can't credibly perform their core function of providing decent policy advice to the government - and they cost more money to do worse work.
Russell Brown
From: Auckland
Since: Nov 2006
Posts: 9063
Moderator
that mash-up is phenomenal. cheers.
It's made from two of the more mashed-up tunes of all time, so it has a head start there.
Credit to ol' Havo, who played it this morning.
He tried to pull a swifty by not saying the track name of who it was by, but that's hardly going stop me finding it.
linger
From: Tokyo
Since: Apr 2007
Posts: 382
I/S: well, "you don't have to talk about" such things... only if nobody asks the relevant questions. What are the chances of interviewers waking up and performing that function some time before the election?
Your comment suggests to me that there may be a more worrying logic at work here:
"we don't have policy, so why would we need policy advice?"
Hamboy
From: Christchurch
Since: Dec 2006
Posts: 160
Merc - Any idea why the yanks were using an AK47 (wooden stock) at the end?
Think they were Iraqi soldiers. Marines get the expensive toys. Iraqis just get cheap knock offs.
Lynda Johansson
From: Auckland
Since: Nov 2007
Posts: 14
A couple of interesting comments coming out of Joe Nunweek's Wire interview with Victoria's Bill Ryan: the comparison between the more generalised stereotypical armchair critics and the 'extraordinarily high satisfaction ratings' found in attitudinal studies of clients of NZ government agencies; also his surmising that a lot of the people Key was talking about may well have come from those public servants engaged in providing the answers to parliamentary questions from non-govt parties needed by ministers to use in the house, along with legislative requirements for agencies and that thorny matter of 'accountability'.
merc
From: Styxville
Since: Dec 2006
Posts: 1285
If the kill is with an AK47, then it wasn't a Marine kill...cough.
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